Mideast Peace

Cutting Edge Commentator

Isi Leibler

Were we living in a sane world, the events of the past few weeks, culminating with WikiLeaks, should have confirmed the veracity of our approach to the peace process. But, alas, much of the liberal global media has once again displayed its penchant for evading realities which are out of sync with their agenda.

The leaked documents provide further irrefutable evidence that Arab leaders speak with forked tongues when they publicly attack Israel’s attitude while privately urging the Americans to engage in military action to prevent the Iranians—whom they loathe—from becoming a nuclear power. In what can only be described as surrealistic, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah—from whence the principal global funding for al-Qaida and other terrorist groups emanates—called on the US “to cut off the head of the snake,” Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed warned the Americans that “[Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is Hitler” and virtually every Arab leader conveyed similar frenzied messages to the US.

In this context, the hypocrisy and cynical manipulation of the Israelis by President Barack Obama was simply unconscionable. We are now aware that he was knowingly lying when he said Israel must make further unilateral concessions to the Palestinians as a precondition to persuading the Arab states to support sanctions or endorse military action against Iran.

The new revelations also expose the absurdity of foreign affairs analysts and supporters of Obama’s Middle East policies (including Obama’s Jewish acolytes like J Street) who repeatedly claim that only the Israelis and the “neocon cabal” favor a military option against Iran.

WikiLeaks also disclosed that despite warnings from Arab leaders that Syria could not be persuaded to weaken its links with Iran, the US continued trying to appease President Basher Assad. Despite denials, the Americans were also aware that the Syrians were collaborating with the Iranians to provide lethal weapons to Hizbullah, even using ambulances to transport weapons to Lebanon.

At the same time, in concert with other Americans allies, Israel was stunned by the feeble US responses to the unprovoked aggression by North Korea, a rogue state with which the US had been “engaging” for some time. It conveyed a chilling lesson concerning the reliability of the US as an ally. The South Koreans were shocked that the only responses from their American patron were expressions of concern, commendations for their “restraint” and appeals to the Chinese to deter their megalomaniacal ally, which we now also know was providing missiles to the Iranians.

For an additional dose of reality, the impotence of our “moderate” peace partner Mahmoud Abbas was once again exposed as he endorsed resolutions carried at the two-day Fatah Revolutionary Council in Ramallah. Opening with a tribute to Amin al-Hindi, orchestrator of the Munich Olympics massacre, the council adamantly resolved that there would be no compromises with the Israelis, refused to recognize “the so-called Jewish state,” reiterated the nonnegotiable right of return for Arabs—a recipe for Israel’s demise—and rejected any suggestion of territorial swaps, insisting that all Jews living over the 1949 armistice lines must be expelled.

A few days later, the PA Ministry of Information published a “study” resurrecting Yasser Arafat’s claim that the Temple Mount and Western Wall had no relationship to Jews, and claiming that contrary to “the Zionist occupation,” the area was owned by the Wakf. This was so bizarre that eight days later, in one of its rare reprimands of the PA, even the US condemned the study.

In yet another illustration of the Alice-in-Wonderland environment in which the farcical peace process is being orchestrated, an opinion poll held in the area under PA jurisdiction disclosed that even “moderate” Palestinians remain committed to seeing the Jews pushed into the sea, and would regard an independent Arab state merely as a stepping stone on the way to “liberating” the entire country. The majority also foresee an inevitable return to “armed struggle.”

Despite this, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continue to repeat the mindless mantra of a “vision” of two states living peacefully side by side.

While most Israelis have no desire to rule over Arabs and would settle for a two-state solution tomorrow, with all this evidence staring us in the face, must we continue this idiotic charade based on the premise that we are negotiating with a genuine “peace partner?”

Some critics argue that if virtually the entire world is against us, we should be questioning our approach rather than accusing everyone else of behaving inappropriately.

Many of us would be tempted to respond that what we are now undergoing is merely an extension of what the Jewish people have long endured with the Jewish state today assuming the role of surrogate for Jew hatred. On a global level, the UN Human Rights Council and, to a large extent, the entire UN have been transformed into a global arena for promoting pogroms against Israel. Human-rights activists unite with Islamic anti-Semites and the most loathsome elements in society in seeking to bring about its downfall.

But setting emotions aside, the recent revelations should encourage our prime minister to stand firm against those abusing diplomacy to pressure us into making further unilateral concessions.

Time after time, our acts of goodwill have rebounded against us. There is, of course, a critical need to avoid a total breakdown with the US. Perhaps Binyamin Netanyahu could take a cue from former prime ministers—Yitzhak Rabin no less than Menachem Begin—who successfully resisted American pressure which they felt endangered the long-term security of the nation. One factor Netanyahu can consider is that the vast majority of Americans would strongly disapprove of any actions by the Obama administration which they believed would endanger Israel.

Netanyahu should also cease making effusive “diplomatic” statements praising the impotent and duplicitous Abbas as a man of peace; they only confuse friends of Israel. The only difference between the goals of the PA and Hamas is strategic; both entities view the dissolution of Jewish sovereignty as their goal. Now is a time for us to cease paying false tribute to intransigent Arab leaders and concentrate on reality by directing attention to the culture of death which, alas, dominates most levels of Palestinian life.